Orlando film flop returns as midnight-movie sensation

The made-in-Orlando movie "Miami Connection" has found a happy ending.

A big flop when it debutedin 1987, the action drama has become a sensation on the midnight-movie circuit. After playing nearly 35 cities, "Miami Connection" is coming home to Central Florida, where filmgoers can debate a fascinating bit of Orlando lore: Just how bad is this movie?

The film is the brainchild ofY.K. Kim, the Central Florida tae kwon do king who was producer, writer, co-director and star of "Miami Connection."

It will screen at 11:59 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Enzian Theater in Maitland. Because of popular demand, screenings at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 28 and 29 have been added.

For a Central Florida audience, the film packs a nostalgic punch by offering views of Church Street Station and the University of Central Florida in the mid-1980s.

Even as he acknowledges the film's appeal, Matthew Curtis, programming director at Enzian, gives a blistering critique.

"Everything about it is literally so jaw-droppingly bad," Curtis says. "It's a kung-fu, male-bonding action movie, a cheesy '80s musical and a drug-war movie, trying to combine all these elements, and it fails miserably at all of them. But people love it because it's endearing."

Evan Husney of Drafthouse Films is more admiring. Of course, Drafthouse owns the rights to the film, which was released Tuesday on DVD and Blu-ray.

"There's a love for this movie about how people really do respond to the characters," Husney said. "People are leaving the theater with the songs in their head. When you see it with a packed audience, there isn't ridicule. There's this unifying enjoyment around the film."

Husney doesn't deny that "Miami Connection" is amateurish. Indeed, it may look like a subpar episode of "Miami Vice."

The film follows a rock band that uses its martial-arts skills to battle competing musicians and biker bullies. The acting, writing and editing are all home-movie quality, although that may insult some home-movie makers. The Orlando Sentinel called it the worst movie of 1988.

Bringing "Miami Connection" to a wider audience was a challenge for Drafthouse, which had to win over filmmaker Kim.

"We said we wanted to distribute the movie," Husney says. "He'd hang up the phone on me and not return emails. It wasn't until much later that we got their attention and said we're serious about this. He thought we were pranking them."

Kim — who continues to teach martial arts locally — said he was unavailable for an interview this week, citing a personal matter. But Husney says the film's failure in 1987 was an extreme disappointment for Kim.

"He had dreams of it being a success to spread the word of martial arts," Husney says. "He signed this bad distribution deal at the time, and the reviews were bad. It was a traumatic thing for him. He put all of his heart and soul in it."

In promotional materials, Kim talks about the film's reception at a New York screening in July.

"Even after the movie finished and the lights came on, nobody wanted to leave," Kim said. "They seemed to want to make the good feeling last. I have never seen an audience reaction like this in my life."

But that was pretty much the reaction when the film first took off at a screening at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, Texas, in 2010. The theater showed a 35-millimeter print that had been bought for just $50 on eBay. The theater was going to screen just the first reel, but the audience demanded to see the whole film, and a full screening was added.

Drafthouse Films, the distribution arm of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, later bought the rights from Kim.

For a Central Florida audience, Orlando's giving birth to a camp classic should be another draw, says Curtis of the Enzian. "There are a lot of great midnight movies, but there are not that many hilarious, kung-fu drug-war movies, and it has a local angle," he says.

If you can't make it to a screening of "Miami Connection," there are other ways to see the film. It is out on Blu-ray and DVD. But the distributor is directing people to miamiconnection.org, where the film can be downloaded for $6. A download with special features costs $10. Also for sale are "Miami Connection" movie posters, soundtracks, retro tank tops and special movie editions.